A football stadium may not be the obvious choice of venue in which to hold a ballroom dancing competition, however, the Ricoh has an excellent function room, large enough to house a large ballroom floor, and hundreds of competitors and their supporters. The room itself was large and airy, with daylight streaming in down most of one side. This made the room very light, although did dampen the atmosphere somewhat. This did not, however, distract from the competitions themselves, and all the dancers made the most of what was a larger than usual floor, in front of a larger than usual audience.This new event in the dancing calendar was split into two parts – daytime and evening, with the daytime section containing a full programme of events for Juveniles, Juniors and Seniors, with all competitions run alongside each other. There were also three EADA National Selection Events, which are always guaranteed to draw a good entry, but with so many can often cause a programme to run late. Martin, however, has always sought to run his competitions to a strict timetable, and as with many large events, he asked that everyone register well before the date which competitions they wished to enter. This allowed a timetable to be drawn up, which showed competitors when they could expect to dance. This is always a major complaint by competitors, and it is to Martin’s credit that he tries to give the competitors a timetable, which although it may not always be to the minute, at least competitors knew the order of events so had a good idea of when they would be dancing. Having a separate evening section also gives a guaranteed end time, so everyone knew by what time they would be finished. For the senior competitors especially this is a bonus!
With so many competitors, and so many competitions, the day time session ran non-stop from 10.00am to 6.30pm, with no breaks at all – tough on the hardworking judges, scrutineers, comperes and DJs, but they all helped to make the daytime session a great success.
The evening session commenced at 7.30pm, and this would be a more leisurely session, being run as a gala evening, with just two competitions; the EADA Amateur Ballroom, and the EADA Amateur Latin. As daylight faded, the rooms’ lighting was to take over to provide the illumination, however, this was not ideal, being a little harsh and again, not helping to create an atmosphere. The audience, however, did not let this detract form their enjoyment of the evening’s competitive dancing and called out fr their favourite dancers as they danced passed.
The Ballroom competition was run in its entirety, with each round punctuated by general dancing for the audience, which was made up of competitors’ supporters, other competitors form the daytime session, and general spectators all here to see the fabulous dancing form the UK’s top amateur ballroom and latin dancers. With only nn couples in this competition, the final came round very quickly and the audience was treated to a fine display of some of the best ballroom dancers in the country, in a fabulous new setting, and the certainly showed their appreciation of the dancers before, during and after the event. Martin was not, however, going to satisfy everyone’s curiosity to know the results of this competition, as the first show of the evening followed straight away. This was the Encore Latin Formation Team with their Chicago routine, the same routine with which they won the British National Latin Formation Team Championship in November 2007. This was a fabulous show, and everyone could see why they are the British National Champions.
The latin competition followed on quickly after wards. This event had nearly 30 couples taking part, which meant 4 rounds to fit in within 2 hours, which would be interesting! Again, the audience were treated to a fine display of latin American dancing by the top amateur couples in England, as they gave their all to win a place in the semi and then the final. Between rounds, as well as some general dancing, we were treated to the second show of the evening, by James and Ola Jordan, from Strictly Come Dancing, and there were clearly some passionate ‘Strictly’ fans in the audience, who loved their show. Between dances, James told us of his horror to find that he was to be dancing in front of the judges! Something he thought he had left behind when he stopped competing!
The semi of the Amateur Latin followed, and I did not envy the task of the judges to find 6 couples for the final, such was the standard of dancing tonight. Perhaps it was the new venue that had spurred everyone on to raise their game in an effort to make the final. After the latin semi, Martin then put the audience (and the ballroom competitors) out of their misery and announced the result of the Ballroom event. This was announced in reverse order, which provides additional tension for those hoping to be in the top places. The result was:
1st Mark and Olga Elsbury
2nd Jack Beale and Viktoria blah
3rd Danielle blah and Kimberly Taylor
4th Andrey Sirbu and Alexandra Hixson
5th Stephen Ford and Rebecca Jackson
6th Christopher Milward and Sophie Couper
It was good to see midlands couples Jack and Viktoria, and Chris and Sophie featuring in the line-up.
This result was quickly followed by the Latin Final, and what a final it was. The audience loved it and cheered and applauded as the dancers showed off their skills with such passion and clear enjoyment. The result of this competition was:
1st Gregor Rebula and Lisa Derby
2nd Neil Jones and Veronika Klyushina
3rd Alejandro Hernandez and Kerri-Ann Donaldson
4th Daniel Juvet and Tamara Sommer
5th Andrew Escolme and Amy-Louise Baker
6th Danny Stowell and Kate Moore
MAD Club members Andrew Escolme and Amy-Louise Baker were the only Midlands couple in this very tough final.
So the first ‘Strictly Spring Ball’, an the first competition ever held at the Ricoh Arena drew to a close. From speaking to people throughout the evening, it was generally held t be a great success, and I for one hope that Martin and Carol will hold the event again next year. As ever, with any event of this magnitude, in a new venue, there were teething problems, but I am sure that these will be addressed and resolved for next year. Watch out for the date and put it in your diary because have a feeling that this event could become a ‘major’, an event that no-one wants to miss.
